Memorial
by whovianmidget
Summary: When Klaus finally tells his family about what happened in Vietnam, Five does something for him he didn't ever expect. Oneshot.


Klaus, in all honesty, didn't understand what was going on. Five had been acting weird for a couple days. Well, the little psycho was always weird, but he was acting weird in a… weirder way. That made no sense. Whatever.

To Five's credit, the whole family had been 'acting weird' sense Klaus finally told them all what happened to him in Vietnam. He told them about the whole spiel, that he had been there for ten months and… that he had lost the love of his life. The only person he had truly loved more than himself. The rest of his siblings were awkward around him after that, not quite sure how to react. Deigo was the least weird, knowing best out of the rest of them how to act around Klaus. Other than Ben, that is. His ghost of a brother was an ever constant presence in Klaus's life, one he was extremely grateful for. Ben knew Klaus better than anyone aside from maybe Dave himself. The latter, however, had yet to make an appearance no matter how sober Klaus got.

It had been a couple days sense Klaus told his family, and Klaus was afraid that Five was avoiding him. The not-kid had been disappearing for hours at a time, only coming back when he needed to. Klaus had no idea why, though, and left the matter alone.

Until, that is, little Number Five excitedly jumped in front of him, the blue energy that surged around him startled both Klaus and Ben, who was currently sitting next to him.

"Come with me," The not-kid said, not bothering to give a single explanation, only reaching for Klaus's arm.

Not knowing exactly what was happening, Klaus maneuvered out of Five's reach. "Five, what the heck?" He glanced at Ben for some kind of explanation, but his brother only shrugged.

Five scowled, an usual expression on his face. "Don't ask questions." He said in his usual sinister tone. "Just come with me."

Klaus knew his (Younger? Older?) brother enough to know that even though he was acting like his usual sinister self, Five wasn't actually meaning it like that. The not-kid tends to cover up what he's really thinking or feeling with snarky comebacks and scowls. Frankly, all their siblings were like that. Klaus did the same but with jokes and an air of carelessness.

So Klaus, though still having no idea what was happening, relented and gave Five his arm.

Immediately Five jumped, and it was different than when Klaus had last jumped with him, back in time with the other siblings in an attempt to stop the apocalypse. Then it was like spiraling in fast motion and slow motion at the same time while simultaneously swimming through a pool of syrup. Now it was more like plunging into a deep pool blindly, not knowing which direction was up or down and having breath ripped out of him. When they had made it to whatever destination Five had in mind, Klaus fell to the ground, breathing deeply and suppressing the urge to puke. He turned to Five, expecting the not-kid to be standing still and confident like all the other times Klaus jumped with him, but to his surprise Five was almost deathly pale, leaning against a nearby wall with his breath heaving.

Klaus recovered quickly enough and gave a worried glance to Five who, still breathing heavily, waves his hand in dismissal. "Haven't jumped that far with another person yet, and it didn't help that my energy was already low from before. Might need a few hours to recover."

Soon after, Five finally seemed to catch his breath and walked to Klaus, who was still sitting on the ground. "Get up. We have to walk a little bit, I miscalculated by about a quarter mile."

Standing, Klaus asked "So, where exactly are we going, Kid?" He asked, purposefully calling Five that to annoy him.

As expected, Five scowled but answered anyway. "Washington, DC. More specifically, the national mall."

DC? Wow, no wonder the not-kid was exhausted. That was all the way across the county from where they lived. Now for the real question. "Okay, why are we here?"

Ben appeared beside Klaus, not needing to teleport, being a ghost and all. Number 6 frowned. "Why are we in DC?" He asked turning to Klaus as if he had the answer.

"I don't know, I'm wondering the same thing!" Klaus said, feigning exasperation. Five looked at Klaus, confused. Realization dawned on him pretty quickly, though.

"Is that Ben?" He asked, legitimately curious. Klaus nodded, a little happy that someone seemed to finally believe him.

Five looked… like he didn't know what to say. He glanced to where Klaus spoke towards earlier, not too far off from where Ben actually was. The smallest smile settling on his face. "Hi," he said, unsure. "I'm… sorry I wasn't there." It was the most sincere Klaus had ever seen his brother.

Ben grinned at the first real interaction he's gotten from any of his siblings aside from Klaus for nearly 14 years. "Don't be." He said. "And I missed you, too.

Klaus repeated what Ben said to Five, who's smile only grew. It was quite possibly the cutest thing Klaus has ever seen.

"And then he called you a dipwad." He deadpanned, though he was only joking. Ben got him in the stomach (though it only passed through him) and Five frowned.

"No he didn't, you dipwad."

Klaus only grinned in response.

"So, care to explain why we are all the way across the country, or do you just wanna talk to the dead guy over there?"

Five scowled yet again, but then something in his expression softened. "You haven't figured it out yet? It should be obvious."

Klaus dramatically rolled his eyes. "I don't even know what the National Mall is, but I sincerely hope you didn't take me here to go clothes shopping. Even if you really do need a change of style." He teased, referring to Five's school uniform, the only thing he's worn sense coming back.

"No, we are not here to go shopping." Five sneered. "Just follow me."

With that, Five turned his heel and walked in the opposite direction. Klaus looked to Ben, shrugged, and followed suit.

Past the wall, he could see what was apparently called the National Mall. It certainly wasn't a shopping complex as Klaus expected. There were thousands of people walking around and taking pictures, evidently tourists. Klaus was now vaguely remembering what the Mall actually was, one of Graces lessons in US history coming to mind. He looked to the right and saw a giant building that looked like a spike- the Washington memorial, he remembered.

But, why had Five taken him here? And why so urgently? Klaus turned back to Ben with a questioning look, but Ben just shook his head and shrugged.

About 10 minutes later, they reached a long wall that stretched several meters- at least 2 acres-towards the Washington Memorial. It was kind of round, with small steps leading up to it. There were American flags hanging from every few rows, and flowers scattered across the whole path. From what Klaus could see, there were rows of thousands- maybe millions- of names.

Still confused, however, Klaus turned back to Five, chuckling. "So what, you took me to see a wall?" He teased. "I don't know what I was expecting, but-" He stopped mid-sentence as he saw it, shock at the words he saw forcing him to gasp.

He glanced toward Ben, a similar expression to his own on his brothers face.

By the wall, a sign explained its purpose with a simple sentence, one that sent Klaus's mind back to the past.

_Vietnam Veteran Memorial._

Like he was saying earlier, he didn't know what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this.

Five awkwardly shifted on his feet, looking strangely uncomfortable. "I thought of it when you told us about…. Him." he said, as if unsure. "Um. Follow me." he said, then walked closer to the wall, not with as much gusto as before, but still sure of where he was going.

He walked to a specific wall, and started counting rows from the top, then from the left. After less than a minute he gestured to a still shocked Klaus, prompting him forward.

"Here," Five said with full confidence, but still with a softer tone than he would usually speak.

As he looked to where Fives finger was pointed, he suddenly remembered a conversation he had with the not-kid a few hours after he told the family about the war.

"_What was his name?"_

_Klaus looked up to Number Five, confused. "..Dave. I told you that already."_

_Five rolled his eyes and scoffed. "No, you idiot. His full name."_

_"Oh," he said simply. "Um, David J Thompson. He never told me his middle name. Said it was embarrassing." Klaus spoke distantly, a small smile forming his face. "Why?" He asked curiously. _

_Five waved him off. "No reason." He said, and with that he jumped away._

Now Klaus knew why Five had asked. He blinked in shock at the name carved into the stone, written beside where Five's finger was pointing.

_David Jessie Thompson_

Klaus lifted his hand to trace the name, and Five moved his own out of the way.

"You idiot," He smiled softly, blinking back tears. "S'not embarrassing. It's beautiful." _Everything about you was beautiful. _

"I, um," Five cleared his throat awkwardly, like he thought he didn't belong there. "I looked for it for days, since you told us. Took a while to find the name.." He trailed off, sounding more and more like the teenager he wasn't. "I thought it might bring you closure, or something. Everyone should be able to visit the resting place of those they love."

Klaus made no move to react. Simply staring at Dave's name and crying quietly. Five was right, he needed this more than he thought he did.

Maybe Five was misunderstanding his reaction, though, only seeing his brother crying at something he had caused. "..Sorry. Maybe this was a bad idea.."

Five was cut off as Klaus hugged him suddenly, causing the not-kid to yelp. "No. No, Five. Thank you." He said, and hugged him tighter.

Five had initially tensed ot the contact, unused to people touching him. (probably caused by 45 years alone in the apocalypse.) But he eventually relaxed into the embrace, tentatively hugging Klaus back. Even Ben joined in, though only in spirit as neither Klaus nor Five could feel him. It was probably the closest Klaus- or any of them- had felt to anyone in his family in years.

"...no problem." Five said quietly, as if still unsure.

Eventually Klaus released from the embrace and stood to look at Dave's name again. Five stood with him, neither brother saying anything. Soon they fell into a companionable silence, and they stayed like that for a while.

Both were more at peace than they had been in years. Even Ben seemed more content than usual.

Eventually they had to go, tourists getting annoyed at them for seemingly loitering, they walked, still silent, unil Five spoke.

"I don't have enough energy to jump us both back yet, so we can either find a bus and start heading back, or we can look around here for awhile."

Klaus smirked. "Well, I didn't bring any money for a bus."

Five responded in kind. "Neither did I. It doesn't help that I look like a thirteen year old."

Ben watched the interaction with a smile. "I vote we stay. I've always wanted to see the Declaration of Independence."

Klaus raised his eyebrows. "Oh?" he turned to Five. " Ben wants to see the Declaration of Independence."

Five nodded in mock seriousness. "As long as either of you don't try to steal it. I promise it won't lead to any secret treasure."

Klaus blanched, surprised. "Did-did you just make a movie reference?"

"What?" Five smirked. "I watch movies. Besides, nobody will believe you."

Klaus exaggerated a gasp. "You sick monster."

Both Five and Ben laughed, though Five's was quiet and short-lived.

They did end up seeing the Declaration of Independence, and it was actually cooler than Klaus expected. Both Ben and Five were geeking out over it. Especially Ben, ever the history nerd.

They stayed much longer than they needed to, Five had plenty of energy for a jump hours ago. Neither of them cared much, though. It was honestly the most fun any of the brothers had had in years.

When they finally made it home, it was with a closeness they hadn't quite had before and a promise to go back to the memorial whenever Klaus needed.

**A/N helloooo thank you for reading this. I got the idea in history cuz we were walking bout Vietnam and I spent the rest of the school day writing it. Sorry it's probably horrible. Anyway I have like, so many fic ideas, especially oneshots so hopefully I actually get around to writing them. Please leave a review if u liked it **


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